Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
